By Dan Napolitano
The Long Island Devils U11 travel baseball team started off their 2015 season on March 21 by traveling to Pennsylvania to compete in the All Star Baseball Academy indoor tournament. The Devils started the tournament with a win over the West Chester Pennsylvania Stars.
Pitcher Timmy Purack was in mid-season form and allowed only two runs over four innings. Robert Triatta supplied the big blow with a three-run homer to blow the game open.
In the second game, The Devils were able to cruise past the Warminster All Stars. Nicholas “Nick2” Disanti led a 17 hit attack with three singles. Ryan Prisco went deep for the Devils and Matt Brandimarte, Justin Fillipelli and Vincent Nocerito all had two hits apiece. Shane Schwartz pitched three innings and got the win. The Devils finished the pool play with a 2-0 record and were seeded number one.
Inside the West Chester Baseball Academy it was hot and sweaty, as four quality teams played their hearts out and battled to the very end.
The Devils started off the day with a playoff game against the Chester County Crushers. The Crushers came to play and went up three runs in the top of the first inning. The Devils battled back with one in the first inning on a single by Nick2 followed by a run scoring single by Nick Napolitano. Disanti continued the hot hitting with another single in the third inning as the Devils plated two more runs to tie the score. Devil pitcher Michael Bloom stood tall on the mound after the first inning, allowing the Crushers only one hit over the final five innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, the devils were able to plate the winning runs after the Crushers team simply ran out of arms and allowed four walks in the inning. While the Devils player enjoyed some lunch and down time between games, they watched a great playoff game between the White Rocks and Hopewell Valley Bulldogs, which was a back-and-forth game filled with great plays. The game was not decided until the very last pitch and the Bulldogs survived and faced the Devils in the championship.
In the Championship, The Devils sent Nick Nap to the hill to face the Bulldogs and the veteran righty threw two shut out innings. Fillipelli, in his first event with his new team, took the ball next. The Devils trailed 1-0 after the second inning but in the third they answered the bell. A lead off walk to Licata was followed by singles by Fillipelli, Disanti, Prisco and Napolitano to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. After an RBI groundout by Purack, Triatta finished the scoring with an RBI single, and the Devils led 4-1. On the mound, Fillipelli surrendered two unearned runs in the fourth inning, but shut down the Bulldogs in the fifth. The tournament ended in epic fashion, as the Bulldogs battled to the end. With runners on first and third with two outs, Fillipelli got the ground ball the team needed. Schwartz scooped up the ball, the game and the trophy at second base and threw out the runner to end the contest.
It was a great game and weekend, which displayed everything that youth baseball is about: good games, good sportsmanship and friendships.
